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This is the first issue of the Washington eBulletin’s new biannual publication schedule. We hope you enjoy the new format.

2020 Advocacy Opportunities

Building long-lasting, trustworthy relationships is the key to effective advocacy. As the new year begins, ³ÉÈËÊÓƵinvites you to join our advocacy efforts to influence legal information policy issues. The Association’s current include improved access to justice, balanced copyright laws, increased access to government information, greater government transparency, and protection of privacy.

Thanks to your support in 2019, ³ÉÈËÊÓƵhelped to secure increased funding levels for the Library of Congress and Law Library of Congress;Ìýworked with members of Congress to ensure more oversight and accountability of PACER through reports and hearings; celebrated the enactment of legislation to modernize federal grant reporting and increase access to government data; saved the indexes to the Federal Register and Code of Federal Regulations from elimination;Ìýand brought ³ÉÈËÊÓƵmember expertise to Capitol Hill as part of ³ÉÈËÊÓƵ2019 Lobby Day.

The 2020 election year offers a special opportunity to form relationships with your members of Congress while they spend more time in their states and districts. Consider with your Representative and Senators and their district staff, or . This is a great way to introduce them to your services and collections, and the perfect photo op for them and your library!

AALL’s new  offers suggested advocacy activities for every month of 2020. Engaging your lawmakers throughout the year will help you form effective relationships with your members of Congress and is much more likely to lead toward favorable results for legal information policy issues. Be sure to to receive weekly updates from the ³ÉÈËÊÓƵGovernment Relations Committee and timely action alerts when your voice is needed most.

Roundup and Review 

³ÉÈËÊÓƵ to the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s Request for Comments on Intellectual Property Protection for Artificial Intelligence Innovation (84 F.R. 58141, Docket No. PTO-C-2019-0038). ³ÉÈËÊÓƵsupports consideration of a contract preemption provision to ensure libraries may continue to benefit from the exceptions provided in the Copyright Act.

The Association also sent to the National Archives and Records Administration to suggest ways to incorporate greater stakeholder participation to the federal records appraisal process. The letter includes examples of how greater access to certain categories of federal records–including those that might be deemed irrelevant and marked for destruction by a federal agency–may be valuable for legal research.

A Look Ahead

³ÉÈËÊÓƵAdvocates for Legislative Priorities as First Session of 116th Congress Enters Final Weeks

³ÉÈËÊÓƵis advocating for several legislative priorities as the end of the first session of the 116th Congress quickly approaches, including urging the Senate Judiciary Committee to mark up the Electronic Court Records Reform Act, or ECRRA (/). The Southeastern Chapter of the ³ÉÈËÊÓƵ (SEAALL) also sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) in support of ECRRA.

³ÉÈËÊÓƵis preparing for possible action on copyright issues, following a commitment earlier this year by Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, to introduce legislation based on feedback gathered from a months-long working group established to discuss U.S. Copyright Office modernization. ³ÉÈËÊÓƵhas concerns about proposals to make the Copyright Office independent of the Library of Congress because we believe it would ultimately weaken the Copyright Office and erect barriers to an effective, balanced copyright system. We are also monitoring the  to determine any potential impact on the privacy of library users and confidentiality of library records.

Congress has until December 20 to negotiate fiscal year 2020 funding bills, giving the House and Senate several more weeks to determine top-line spending allocations. ³ÉÈËÊÓƵcontinues to urge that any legislative branch appropriations agreement include as close to full funding as possible for the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) and the Library of Congress/Law Library of Congress, which would allow, among other priorities, the continued digitization of historical Congressional and other public domain materials.

Changes Coming to the Washington eBulletin 

Starting in January 2020, the Washington eBulletin will shift to a biannual publication schedule, with more regular government relations updates moving to the ³ÉÈËÊÓƵeNewsletter and Weekly eNews. Chapter and SIS news, including news related to advocacy, may be submitted for publication in the ³ÉÈËÊÓƵeNewsletter’s Community Corner. Submissions should be sent to Heather Haemker at hhaemker@aall.org.

Roundup and Review

• ³ÉÈËÊÓƵendorsed the nomination of to lead the GPO and to lead the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
• ³ÉÈËÊÓƵand the American Library Association  to proposed updates to GPO’s regional depository library discard policy, which would alter the conditions under which tangible titles may be discarded.
• The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org Inc on December 2.  addresses the question of whether the government edicts doctrine extends to works that lack the force of law, such as the annotations in the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (OCGA), and therefore cannot be copyrighted. ³ÉÈËÊÓƵsigned on to an with other national library associations in the case. The  is available from the Supreme Court’s website, and the audio recording of the oral argument will be available on December 6.

A Look Ahead

Congress Debates Bills To Improve Access to Government Data and Information

With just a few weeks until the end of the first session of the 116th Congress, lawmakers and their staffs are working quickly on must-pass legislation–including funding proposals to keep the federal government open past Thanksgiving. Beyond the must-pass items, the House and Senate are also busy considering legislation on improving access to grant data and expanding freedom of information.

On October 21, the Senate voted unanimously in favor of the Grant Reporting Efficiency and Agreements Transparency (GREAT) Act (). The GREAT Act would modernize federal grant reporting and increase transparency by establishing searchable and machine-readable data standards for the information grantees must report to agencies. The bill would ease research on federal grant reporting by transforming disconnected documents into open data, as well as support greater oversight and accountability of the grant-making process. The GREAT Act passed the House of Representatives 422-0 in January. The bill will now return to the House for a vote on the changes made in the Senate.

³ÉÈËÊÓƵis urging Senators to support the Open and Responsive Government Act (), which strengthens the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by ensuring continued access to information that has regularly been disclosed through FOIA but is now at risk of being hidden from public view. AALL’s explains how the bill protects against efforts to weaken FOIA following a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media that expanded the scope of what is considered “confidential” information. The bill will prevent agencies from unnecessarily redacting information and reinforces FOIA’s presumption of openness and transparency.

Changes Coming to the Washington eBulletin 

Starting in January 2020, the Washington eBulletin will shift to a biannual publication schedule, with more regular government relations updates moving to the ³ÉÈËÊÓƵeNewsletter and Weekly eNews. Chapter and SIS news, including news related to advocacy, may be submitted for publication in the ³ÉÈËÊÓƵeNewsletter’s Community Corner. Submissions should be sent to Heather Haemker at hhaemker@aall.org.

Roundup and Review

• ³ÉÈËÊÓƵsent a  in support of the Electronic Court Records Reform Act (S. 2064) to modernize and provide free access to the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system. The letter urges Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to support bringing the bill to the Senate floor as soon as possible.
• The White House Hugh Nathanial Halpern to be director of the Government Publishing Office. Mr. Halpern previously served as the director of floor operations in the Office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives before retiring in January 2019. ³ÉÈËÊÓƵlooks forward to learning more about the nominee.